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Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Nuit Boréale and Nuit Australe

— Those two new creations in the Extraordinary Dials collection celebrate the constellations and the mythology.

With the Extraordinary Dials collection, the cheap Breitling replica watchmaker’s art is enhanced by that of the enameler, the engraver, the lapidary, the miniature painter and the stone-setter, among others. Each dial is crafted like a miniature picture and requires dozens of hours to complete. Treating a broad range of inspirations, traditional crafts combine to illustrate the creativity and excellence of the Maison. This year’s creations evoke the theme of Poetic Astronomy, unveiled at the SIHH 2014. From engraving on gold or mother-of-pearl to champlevé, vallonné and grisaille enamel, mother-of-pearl and hard stone marquetry and stone-setting, Van Cleef & Arpels breathes new life into these techniques to depict the poetry inherent in each dial.

Objects of curiosity and fascination since ancient times, the constellations are at the heart of Van Cleef & Arpels’ Poetic Astronomy. Sensitive to their evocative power, the Maison celebrates both their symbolism and the representations to which it has given rise over the years. Inspired by various eras, these two creations reflect the way in which mankind’s view of the heavens has evolved in line with its beliefs and discoveries.

Dedicated to the Northern hemisphere, the Midnight Nuit Boréale model is principally inspired by the gods and creatures of Greek mythology. The dragon alludes to the fearsome beast that cheap replica Breitling watches over the Golden Fleece; the swan refers to Zeus’s disguise in his plan to seduce Leda; the female figure represents the proud and beautiful Cassiopeia, imprisoned on her throne. Lastly, legend has it that the Great Bear and the Little Bear evoke the nymph Callisto – transformed by Hera – and her son Arcas.

Devoted to the Southern hemisphere, the Midnight Nuit Australe model pays homage to the observations of scientists and explorers from the 16th to the 18th centuries. While the Swordfish and Toucan constellations are inspired by the depictions of the Amsterdam astronomer and cartographer Petrus Plancius, the Telescope and Argo constellations – the latter including Carina (the keel), Puppis (the poop deck) and Vela (the sails) – refer to the work of the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.

These two Extraordinary Dials timepieces are decorated using the grisaille enameling technique, revived by Van Cleef & Arpels for its Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux model. Today, this rare process is applied to evoking maps of the sky and their astonishing constellations.

Developed in Limoges in the 16th century, grisaille enamel offers a means of creating dramatic plays of light and shadow using only two shades of enamel. For the first firing, the background is coated with a very dark layer of enamel and filed to perfect smoothness. Using a brush or fine needle, he then draws in the scenery – passing successively from the lightest to the darkest areas – using a finely ground white powdered enamel known as ‘‘Blanc de Limoges’’. Over successive firings – some thirty in all for these pieces – subtle gradations appear, bathing the dial in a mysterious nocturnal glow.

The story continues beyond the dial with an engraving on the back of the case: Polaris, the brightest star of the Little Bear, for the Midnight Nuit Boréale watch and Acrux, the brightest star in the Southern Cross constellation, for the Midnight Nuit Australe model.

To underline the exceptional character of these limited editions of 22 pieces, a cabinet adorned with sycamore and mother-of-pearl marquetry has been specially created to house both creations inside a prestigious case.